Professor Parkins (Michael Hordern) is a slightly eccentric academic who teaches at Cambridge. Parkins decides to take a holiday on the shores of a small British coastal town in the off season. He arrives at a little Bed and Breakfast place and settles in. The next day he takes a packed lunch and wanders around the beach and dunes. His travels take him away from the beach and into an abandoned old cemetery that once belonged to the Knights Templar. Near one of the graves, he finds an old object half buried in the dirt. He picks it up and puts it in his pocket. He then continues on his walk.
Back at his room Parkins retrieves the object from his jacket pocket and looks at it under a light. He finds that the object is a whistle and that there are marks engraved on it. He cleans out the whistle and makes a rubbing of the marks with pencil on a piece of paper. The inscription on the whistle says “Quis est iste qui venit" or "Who is this? Who is coming?" He then blows the whistle. Not long after that a storm starts up outside and Parkins goes to sleep, slightly unsettled.
The next day Parkins gets into a random discussion with one of the other guests at the hotel, the Colonel (Ambrose Coghill). The Colonel asks him if he believes in ghosts. Parkins says no but is amused by the discussion. Later Parkins once again wanders around the shoreline enjoying the brisk air. That night Parkins sleeps fitfully and dreams that he is attacked on the beach by a ghost. The next day, when the maid (Freda Dowie) goes to clean the room, she finds that both beds in the professor’s room have been slept in.
Parkins is a little confused about the other bed but then dismisses it and tries to enjoy the remainder of his holiday. That night Parkins once again receives a midnight visitor. Is what is happening a figment of his imagination or did Parkins's call forward a spirit from the past?
“Whistle and I'll Come to You” was released in 1968 and was written and directed by Jonathan Miller. It is a British supernatural made for television short. The film was an episode of the British documentary series Omnibus. It is based on the 1904 short story “Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad” by M. R. James.
What makes the film different is that most of the stories in the Omnibus series were based on non-fiction stories. This one, however, was based on one of M.R. James’ ghost stories. James is considered one of the best ghost story writers and penned somewhere around 33 of them. The story used in the Omnibus series most likely inspired another series “A Ghost Story for Christmas” which featured mostly James’ stories and played mostly on BBC One.
My favorite part of the film is Hordern’s performance as the scatter-brained Professor Parkins. The professor is often seen mumbling to himself and mentally wandering off with his thoughts. The supernatural elements of the film make it a ghost story, but the character Professor Parkins makes it so much fun to watch. As ghost stories go it’s rather timid but still manages to have great atmosphere. All you need is a desolate beach, a creaky old house and an imagination.